Disguised and daunted
by Thatspazzy Artist
Summary: Just another normal day to help others out turns into a mission of a bizarre nature


**AN#1: **Rating M for mention of graphic wounds later down the story

* * *

Most days, Marian Hawke just hated Kirkwall. Having fled to the city to escape the Blight, only to spend a year working off Uncle Gamlen's debt to the Red Iron. Soon after she met Varric Tethras, younger brother to Bartrand Tethras whose expedition into the Deep Roads would certainly be a successful one…if she could raise enough gold to change the stubborn dwarf's mind about hiring her on.

Shaking her head from the moody thoughts, Hawke looked around the gates of Kirkwall to find her friends already waiting for her. She spotted Aveline's orange hair and made a beeline toward it. As Hawke got closer, she noticed both Varric and Anders were waiting with Aveline. Anders noticed her first and called her over.

"There you are. Varric was certain you wouldn't show up. Nearly started a pool too," the renegade mage said as Hawke reached the trio.

"Who, me? Never, Blondie" the dwarf jabbed back. Aveline merely rolled her eyes at the pair and pushed off the wall.

"So, what's the plan for today Hawke?" she asked.

"Funny you should mention that, Aveline" Hawke said as she pulled out a crumpled sheet of paper from one of her many pockets. "Gamlen said that someone came by and dropped this off the other day. I thought we could check it out."

The trio huddled closer to Hawke as she smoothed out the paper and read: _"I heer from Meeran that you can get the job done. I'm willing to pay big, see Its 'n easy job, just go to the spot marked on the map, clear out the caves an' you'll get yer money's worth. Deal?"_. An illegible scribble covered the rest of the scrap as Hawke looked up to three bewildered faces. Well, two really; Varric always tagged along whenever he could to use for his stories.

"Not _him _again, Hawke you shouldn't do this. You've already paid off Gamlen's debt for the Red Irons" Aveline groaned as she leaned back.

"Just clear out the marked caves, how do we know that its not some sort of trap?" Anders said with a worried tone.

"Huh, vague, in a remote location, and a good distance from Kirkwall…sounds like another epic adventure in the making." Varric mused, stroking his chin.

Hawke nodded at her team. "I know, I told you I wouldn't deal with the Red Iron, yes this could be a trap but I need the money, so I'm going through with this. You can come with or you can stay and I'll bring someone else along."

"Going with." Varric immediately replied and stood by Hawke's right. She grinned at him and stared at the other two still weighing the pros and cons. With a huff, Anders also stood by Hawke and Aveline was the last to join.

"You know, if this is a trap I get to say 'I told you so' " Anders piped up.

"Duly noted" answered Hawke as the group walked out of the city to the marked zone in the surrounding mountain range.

* * *

With a unladylike grunt of effort, Marian had finally been able to pull herself off from the ledge to get caught up with her teammates standing on the top of the cliff.

"Maker," she wheezed, face-down and lain out like a sweaty, breathless rug on the dirt "and I thought the climb to the Keep was difficult enough…HOW are you two not as breathless as I am?" Hawke could swear that the dwarf and mage were smirking at her through the fuzzy cloud that started to creep in on her vision.

"Its an ancient Tethras family secret, Hawke. Passed down from generation to generation, things that shouldn't even be spoken aloud so I won't to keep the secret" Varric said with so much emotion put into it she nearly believed it. Nearly.

"Walking back and forth from Lowtown and Darktown, you get your daily exercise that way," Anders said with a much more sympathetic tone.

Aveline ignored Marian's protests as she marched over and hauled her leader up by the arms. "Come on Hawke, just a little further to get to the point on the map. If we hurry we could finish the job and we can make it back to Kirkwall just before the sun sets." Hawke spent a few more seconds bent at the waist, trying to get air back into her lungs when a voice broke through the silence.

"Oi, who 'ere you?!"

The team turned to look at a dirt smudged man storming up to them. He stopped a few paces away, intimidated by the now armed strangers.

"W-well, state yer business 'ere." he spoke, stuttering a bit.

Hawke had finally caught her breath and met the man with a nod. "I'm Hawke, I got a letter saying something about a job?" The man leaned in to look at the letter and her companions but snapped back to Marian's face when she coughed.

"Yeah, name's Weaver. See, we asked alotta Blighters to help us out before an' ain't one of 'em ever came back out of tha caves" the man grunted to Hawke as he waved his hands to the hidden path behind him. "Follow me an' I'll show you where its at."

She gave another nod and followed Weaver, her team discreetly searching for any signs of a trap. Soon, enough they reached a clearing where at least a dozen workers were milling around. The camp's chatter quieted when they noticed the group but started up again when Weaver pointed out Hawke.

"Its been a huge mess since this… _thing_ showed up," Weaver grumbled, "No work is done an when we don't mine we don't get paid. Many of the men's got families an they can't feed 'em with what they got." Hawke frowned at Weaver.

"How long has this been going on?"

Weaver shook his head, "its been a few weeks past a month." He paused for a second to count on his fingers and nodded. "yeah, like a month or so like this."

Varric scoffed. "And you're all still working here? You should ask your boss for a raise when we clear out your cave."

Aveline frowned before speaking up, "and you never thought to move out because…?"

Weaver turned to look at the captain. "I need the money-look, I dunno why the Boss didn't ask and I don't when I'm told to keep my mouth shut." he snapped back at Aveline. She frowned at the man's evasiveness but stayed quiet as they reach the cave's entrance.

Weaver nodded, "This is it."

It seemed like any other entrance into the earth: carved out by the miners of years past and the current workers. A single track led into the cave and Hawke stepped into the cave.

"Alright guys, let's get this done."

* * *

"Maker…" whispered Aveline as she caught up with the overeager Hawke, Varric not far behind her.

The entire cavern had scars of a very violent battle etched all around it. Part of the ceiling had collapsed illuminating the bits and pieces of scorched body parts and gouges in the walls. All these signs pointed to another nest of dragons disturbed from the mining but the perfect holes in the walls didn't add up on anything a dragon could have possibly made.

"Wonder what could have caused this mess," Anders grumbled as the team stepped around the bodies. Hawke kept her hands on her daggers as she noticed the looks on the faces.

"I hope whatever caused this would have already moved on," Aveline said as the group made their way up another stairway to walk into the hole in the wall before stopping at the sight in front of them.

The body laid slumped against the floor, blood slowly pooling around it. The left wing hung at an awkward angle while the right was obscured by his body and pieces of rubble. The small wheezy breaths that it took rattled Hawke. It sounded just like the time Carver nearly died with the flu and she unconsciously moved closer.

"_Hawke_!" hissed Aveline and Anders made a grab to stop her when his foot knocked a stone loose to bang against a still intact shield.

The ringing that it created echoed through the cave as creature jerked with a bizarre roar. With it now somewhat kneeling up, Hawke stared in shock at the strangely human-like shape.

It was tall, maybe the height of the Arishok. Midnight dark clothing seamlessly covered its body as Hawke couldn't tell where the clothes ended and his skin began. What looked like some sort of purple helmet covered the top half of his face with three eyes staring and focusing on the group. But that wasn't the reason she stared in horror.

His entire right side had either missing or gouged out chunks of flesh, parts of his ribcage were sticking out and what was left of his right arm swung limpidly as he held his left tightly across his chest. A bitter snarl passed his bared and bloodied teeth, though it didn't seem like the best idea as it coughed out blood as it stared back at the armed but shocked group.

Hawke could feel the tension filling the air. She loosened her grip on her daggers and turned her hands so that the creature could see her palms. "Guys," she spoke directly to her team while still staring at it. "keep back okay?"

"Are you insane?!" Anders had moved up to where Hawke stood and latched onto her arm as if to stop her from getting closer to the beast. The creature gave off another growl, blood seeping through the gaps in its teeth at Anders' movement and Hawke gave him a heated glare but he ignored it.

"Hawke, don't even try it. Its acting a lot like a wild animal would when cornered and not even you can deal with wild animals," Aveline worriedly berated her teammate as she and Varric moved closer to them, their weapons at the ready.

"But it-he's hurt, and will die if we don't-." Hawke began, to try and see if she could change their minds.

"Hawke, **we** might die if you try to help it" Varric piped up, never taking his eyes off the creature. Its tail twitched as they spoke, flitting a lot like a cat's tail would. "His entire look just screams out 'Dangerous, do _not _mess with'".

"I can handle the danger" Hawke twisted her arm out of Anders' grasp. "besides, when I do get hurt you all get to say 'I told you so' and if, IF, he does try anything just go for stunning him alright?".

Hawke finally looked away from its red eyes and stared at each one of her friend's gazes: both Aveline and Anders wore worried ones while Varric's look screamed out 'If you live, think of the stories I'll be able to tell'.

A collection of unheard 'sighs' meant that Hawke could finally try to help the poor thing before it really did die and leave the four of them standing around like fools. Hawke turned back to the creature, who was actually looking up at the ceiling. It snapped its head back down when it didn't hear anymore of the brief conversation and it locked onto her again.

"Easy, we're not here to hurt you," she spoke slowly, staring right into his eyes. Hake took one small step forward and the creature snarled again, this time opening its wings and letting the broken bones clatter against each other. She felt the collective wince that came from the rest of her team and boldly took another step forward.

"We can help you out."

This time the creature's face showed worry while trying to keep Hawke away from him. The tail swished again, flickering back and forth into and then out of Hawke's vision. She gave another determined step forward and now he moved back, wings flapping feebly and sending spasms of pain rippling across the grimace on the lower half of his face.

Hawke frowned when she noticed a small light flicker in the creature's clothing…? Before Hawke could take another step toward him, a rock bounced off her head. She jumped back and nearly stumbled as she grabbed her daggers. A groan leaked out from the creature's mouth and Hawke realized her mistake.

"Anders…" she said as a screeching cry made the rouge look up to see a large spider descending rapidly. She dived forward, rolling to a stop as she pulled her daggers out.

"I hate it when you're right."

* * *

**AN#2: cleaning out old files, I stumble across a cache of stories I started but never really picked up again. I'll upload all of them eventually. Mostly its to get more space on my flash drive, possibly maybe it'll kickstart me into making another chapter for the other stories that I have on here, and maybe it'll even inspire some others to see the odd cross-over ideas I get randomly during the day.**


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